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University of Arkansas at Fayetteville teams receive EPA grants

Release Date: 11/13/2008
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Tressa Tillman at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov

People, Prosperity and the Planet program focuses on sustainable energy solutions

(Dallas, Texas – November 13, 2008) Protecting the planet through innovative designs has earned grants from the Environmental Protection Agency for two teams at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

The two teams were awarded grants from EPA’s People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) program for their research on biomass, or plant materials used to produce energy.

One of the Arkansas teams is looking at using butanol, an alcohol produced from biomass, as a fuel additive to increase fuel efficiency, reduce pollution and increase production efficiency. The team hopes to prove butanol’s economic benefits and thereby increase its use. The second team is working on using methanol to more easily and efficiently convert feedstock into biodiesel.

EPA awards P3 grants every year to researchers whose work is benefiting people, promoting prosperity, and protecting the planet by addressing challenges to sustainability in both the developed and developing world. P3 research projects receive $10,000 in the initial phase of the program, with the possibility of up to $75,000 in the second phase. Eligibility for grants is open exclusively to teams of undergraduate and/or graduate students attending U.S. colleges, universities and other post-secondary educational institutions.

This year, EPA awarded 43 Phase I and six Phase II grants for a total of $880,000 to student teams representing 39 institutions in 23 states.

Additional information about the P3 program, as well as the grant winners and their projects, is available at http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/index.html.

To learn more about activities in EPA Region 6, please visit https://www.epa.gov/region6.